stand to reason

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Verb

stand to reason (third-person singular simple present stands to reason, present participle standing to reason, simple past and past participle stood to reason)

1. (idiomatic) To make sense; to seem logical, reasonable, or rational.

   If nobody asked the question yet, then it stands to reason that nobody has tried answering.

   • 2019 May 5, Danette Chavez, “Campaigns are waged on and off the Game Of Thrones battlefield (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1]:

     But if the saying that those who want to govern, shouldn’t, applies here, does it really stand to reason that reluctant, brooding, can’t-be-bothered-to-say-goodbye-to-Ghost-the-good-boy types should?

Translations

make sense

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有道理 (zh) (yǒu dàolǐ), 有意義／有意义, 有意义 (yǒu yìyì)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: olla pääteltävissä
• French: tomber sous le sens (fr)

References

• “(it) stands to reason”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.